Windows serve a variety of functions. Windows provide a view of the outdoor surroundings, outside the building in which the window is used. A window can also give the perception of increasing the size of the room in which it is used.
But windows have the disadvantage that they can only be used on an outer wall of the building. They cannot be used on an interior wall. Windows also have the disadvantage that they are conduits for transmitting a greater amount of heat than is transmitted by a typical insulated exterior wall, whether by conduction, convention, or radiation, thereby increasing winter heat loads and summer air conditioning loads.
On the other hand, a window can provide natural lighting and passive solar heat, and can have beneficial psychological and other effects on people who can view the outdoors through a window.
It is known to attempt to create an illusion of an outdoor atmosphere in a room by placing an assemblage of large color pictures, generally comprising a mural, of summer gardens or winter scenes, namely the current or desired season, of substantially the full height and length of the room. Such assemblages are intended to simulate what might be the view through a large window. The pictures can be made of modular panels assembled close together, to simulate the appearance of an outdoors environment. A typical such modular picture assembly is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,447,274 Davidson.
It is also known to use wall decorations that operate as decorative lighting, and which have some of the appearance characteristics of a window. Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,360 Reiss et al teaches a device having some appearance characteristics of a window. It includes what appears to be a front window sash, and a rearwardly extending enclosure, wherein the enclosure contains decorated panels 50, 56 disposed at angles to the front of the device, to give a three dimensional effect to the appearance of the display inside the device. Lights 72 behind the decorative panels 50, 56 illuminate the decorative panels 50, 56 to provide the desired affect.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,251,392 McManigal teaches a wall mounted device which operates more like a conventional light fixture. A fluorescent light bulb 35 shines light through a translucent diffusion panel assembly, which can include a decorative layer 25. A reflector 36 reflects the rearwardly-directed component of the light toward the diffusion panel assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,139,955 Reiback teaches a decorative lighting device which creates the illusion of depth in the device by using a partially silvered front glazing sheet, which has a transmission factor of 0.10-0.50, in combination with a mirror on the rear wall of the device. Interior light bulbs provide the internally generated light which is necessary for the operation of the display. The front glazing sheet, because of its low transmission factor, reflects at least 50% of the incident light back to the mirror. The mirror then reflects the light back to the front panel. The light follows a path of recurring/multiple reflections, between the front panel and the mirror, for several round trips until that component of the light which has not been transmitted through the front glazing sheet is extinguished.
The above references have none of the window-like characteristics related to a dynamically changing view dependent on the viewer's movements relative to the wall display assembly. Thus, to the extent these references address depth perception, they represent views generated predominantly within the confines of the wall display assembly, as opposed to a conventional window, which represents views generated by light from objects disposed outside the window assembly, where the images seen by the viewer change constantly as the viewer moves about with respect to the window, and wherein the general make-up of the views seen by the viewer is outside the control of the producer of the window.
It is an object of the invention to provide a decorative wall display assembly wherein the views seen by a viewer are generated by light from objects disposed outside the wall display assembly.
It is another object of the invention to have the decorative wall display assembly free from light sources or lamps.
It is another object of the invention to provide a decorative wall display assembly wherein the general make-up of the views seen by the viewer is outside the control of the producer of the wall display assembly.
It is a further object to provide such a decorative wall display assembly that has appearance characteristics of a conventional window in a wall, including a transparent front glazing sheet, a rearwardly disposed mirror reflecting light through the front glazing sheet, and a space between the front glazing sheet and the rearwardly disposed mirror, whereby light images reflected by the mirror are transmitted to and through the glazing sheet without appreciable scattering of the light as such light might be scattered by passing it through a translucent sheet.
It is still another object to provide such a decorative wall display assembly which gives the illusion of being deeper than the actual depth of the assembly as measured between the mirror and the front of the frame, whereby the apparent size of the room in which the display assembly is used is accordingly increased.
It is yet another object to provide such a decorative wall display assembly which provides internal structural support between the glazing sheet and the mirror, across at least one transverse dimension of the assembly.
It is an object of the invention to provide a decorative wall display assembly wherein the mirror comprises an opaque mirror transmitting substantially no light through the rear side thereof.
Still another object is to provide such a decorative wall display assembly wherein the mirror and glazing sheet can readily be removed from the assembly for cleaning or replacement of elements of the assembly.
Yet another object is to provide such a decorative wall display assembly wherein front edges of the mirror and the glazing sheet are separately and individually abutted against a common enclosing frame.
Finally, it is an object to provide such a decorative wall display assembly wherein front edges of the mirror, the glazing sheet, and an optional intervening spacer are all separately and individually abutted against a common enclosing frame, and substantially against each other such that front support of each the mirror, the glazing sheet, and the spacer is generally independent of the front support of the others of the mirror, the glazing sheet and the spacer, and wherein at least partial rear support of the glazing sheet is provided by the spacer and at least partial rear support of the spacer is provided by the mirror.